Rob's Family Vacation to WDW - June 2004 - Day 1

Players: Rob (the guy footing the bill), Debbie (the wife), Donny (the son), Hayley (the daughter)

Lodging: Port Orleans: French Quarter an EPCOT Resort

Dates: 6/3-6/10

Transportation: Nissan Quest van

Things started out extremely hectic. The plan was to work until lunch time, then head home, change clothes, and hit the road. I was supposed to have eaten something while at work, but that didn't happen due to a barrage of phone calls, e-mails, and visitors. Finally left the office at 11:30 in a mad dash and raced home, lunch in hand.

We managed to get on the road around 12:15 in the afternoon, so we were pretty much on schedule despite the rough morning at work. We hit construction around Bowling Green, KY, but that was nothing compared to what we would hit in Tennessee. From nearly the moment our vehicle entered Tennessee until the time we left the state, we had nothing but torrential downpours of rain. Reduced speed for safety was a necessity, though we somehow managed to still make decent time.

As dinner time was approaching, we stopped at a McDonald's near Chattanooga and got drenched going into the restaurant. If we had known things would be drier when we hit Georgia, we probably would have held out a bit longer. Once we made it to Georgia, Hayley mentioned that she would like to see our old house. You see, in late 1995 my job transferred us to work in Smyrna, Georgia and we bought a home in Acworth, Georgia. At the end of 1997, we were moved back to Indiana. Anyway, we drove through the neighborhood we used to live in and things sure looked different. The streets seemed much more narrow than I remembered them being. Also, lots of new development just outside the subdivision including several restaurants, a grocery, car wash, etc.

After the brief detour, we got back on the road. Not much more to report for Day 1 of our trip, other than that we settled in for the night in Cordele, Georgia at a Best Western. We would finish the drive to WDW in the morning.